This invention relates to a strap having means for retaining the strap in a buckle, and a splint, such as a wrist splint, wherein the strap is retained in the buckle during placement and removal of the splint. The strap facilitates placement of the splint on the body part with only one hand.
Numerous types of splints are known in the art of the type which can be removed and replaced by the patient. This is often necessary for bathing, dressing and adjustment of the splint. Many of these types of splints are held in place by straps which extend around the circumference of the splint and are adjusted to hold the splint in position in the correct therapeutic position and at the correct degree of tightness. These straps most often include touch fastener elements for securing the straps in the proper position. By "touch fasteners" is meant conventional hook-and-loop fasteners, or other types of fasteners which operate by means of complementary mechanical engagement of opposing surfaces.
The hooks and loops are sometimes referred to as "male" and "female" touch fastener elements. These include so-called hermaphroditic fasteners having identical complementary surfaces of upright arrow or mushroom-shaped elements which slip past each other into a locking position and are disengaged by peeling the surfaces away from each other, as well as other types.
These types of fasteners offer the advantages of being infinitely adjustable, launderable, repetitively cycled between open and closed positions numerous times, inexpensive to purchase and easy to attach to the splint. A conventional arrangement for utilizing such fasteners is to attach a simple loop-shaped buckle to the splint together with a strap of suitable length with touch fasteners on an outer-facing side. The entire outer-facing side of the strap may be comprised of loose, unbroken fibrous loops, with a relatively small patch of complementary flexible hooks positioned on the end of the strap. The end of the strap is extended around the splint, passed through the buckle, doubled back over itself to the correct fit and pressed downwardly so that the patch of hooks engages the fibrous loops.
It has been observed that some individuals have difficulty properly applying such a splint, since it may be difficult to thread the end of the strap through the relatively narrow buckle with only one hand-the hand not in the splint. This is particularly true if the buckle is attached to the splint by means of a short length of flexible webbing, as is often the case. In such circumstances the patient must hold the buckle in the correct position and insert the strap through the buckle with the same hand at the same time. This is particularly difficult if, as is often the case, the patient has injured the dominant hand and must use the other hand.
There are many other circumstances were it would be desirable to prevent the strap from slipping completely out of the buckle when it is only necessary to loosen the strap sufficiently to, for example, remove a body part from a splint or other structure. If the strap can be retained in loosened position, it is only be necessary to retighten the strap to the desired position without any need to manipulate the buckle or reinsert the strap into the buckle.
The invention of this application provides such a means of retaining the strap in the buckle. The retention means can be easily fabricated without any additional manufacturing steps and without any additional materials.